public opinion on their side over negotiations against house republicans on the so-called fiscal cliff. the president himself tweeted out plans for the q and a a short time ago saying he'll answer questions about the cliff, his proposal and pending tax hikes on the official white house twitter feed. press secretary jay carney insisted the white house is still optimistic it can reach a deal with congressional republicans. >> there has been progress, and we can achieve a bipartisan agreement. the obstacle remains at this point the refusal to acknowledge by republican leaders that there is no deal that achieves the kind of balance that is necessary without raising rates on the top 2%. >> and there are just 29 days to go for the two parties to find some sort of middle ground, and joining me now from the white house nbc news correspondent kristen welker. what's the back story on this it twitter q and a for the president, which should start any minute now? >> reporter: that's right. this is part of president obama's full court press to get the public on board to pressure republicans to sign